Adjustable-partition holder for cards, &amp;c.



N0. 672,686. Patented Apr. 23, mm. 6. v. STYLES.

ADJUSTABLE PARTITION HOLDER FOR CARDS, 81.6. -Application filed Nov. 13, 1900.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-$he6t I.

No. 672,686. Patented Apr. 23, IBM. 0. V. STYLES.

ADJUSTABLE PARTITION HOLDER FDR CARDS, 8w.

(Application filed Nov. 13, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

CLAUDE V. STYLES, OF PIERMONT, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND

HENRY P. STAMFORD, OF GRAND VIEW ON-THE-HUDSON, NEW YORK.

ADJUSTABLE-PARTITION HOLDER FOR CARDS, 8w.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 672,686, dated April 23,] 901.

Application filed November 13, 1900. Serial No. 36,339. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAUDE V. STYLEs, a citizen of the United States, residing in Piermont, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Adjustable-Partition Holders for Cards and Analogous Articles;

. and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

. I will describe the holder as applied in a box as used in the life-insurance business in arranging cards, introducing new ones, and removing old ones as required. The partition may be the ordinary nearly-upright plate of metal to be held adjustably rearward from a fixed front which is slightly inclined in the opposite direction. The improvement is more easily operated and allows more space to be utilized than the usual constructions.

Holders for cards to serve in the manner of this invention difier substantially from what are known as file-holders in that they do not compress the cards together as file-holders compress files, but hold a partition stiffly in adjustable positions, so as to retain the cards with just sufficient looseness and allow them to be tilted or inclined in'one direction or the other in examining, drawing'out, and inserting cards.

Myimprovement gives unusual strength in the direction of the strain.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in whioh- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the entire box with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a corresponding perspective view from the rear. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on a larger scale. Fig. 4 is a corresponding vertical section on the line 4 4 in Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a perspective Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they appear.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, A is the box, and a a longitudinal groove of inverted- T-shaped section. Each portion A of the floor A, immediately adjacent to the groove a on each side thereof, is clamped and released by simple mechanism. B is a shoe extending forward and adapted to slide longitudinally in such groove. It is provided with an arm B, inclined and having its upper end B hook-formed, as shown. The arm supports the partition. D is the level base, and D the inclined body of the partition. Another arm B farther rearward on the shoe serves to steady the partition against twisting strains. Both arms B and B of the shoe extend up; ward through a sufficient opening 01 in the base D of the partition.

M is a cam turning on a loose rivet- E, set

in the inclined partition D and provided with a lever or arm M, by which it may be partially revolved. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that turning the lever M to the left, as operated from the front, Fig. 1, (which is to the right as seen in Figs. 2 and 3,) presents the full part of the cam M under the hook B and lifts forcibly on the hook, thus lifting the shoe B, and depresses the rivet E, and thus the partition, and firmly clamps the portion A of the floor adjacent to the groove between the shoe and the partition-base D. Thus conditioned the partition may be firmly held for any period. Whenit is to be shifted, the operator throws the lever M up about into the position shown in strong lines in Fig. 3, or still farther to the left viewed from the rear, and allows the shoe and the attached parts to be shifted forward or rearward at will. As soon as the right position is attained, determined, it may be, in some cases by the resistance of the properly-compacted cards, the operator throws the lever M again to the left, (the right in the rear view,) and so on.

The device economizes space because the partition D D may be moved back until there is only the thickness of the thin lever M between the partition D and the extreme rear of the box, and it economizes labor and care. The shoe reaches so far forward in the groove a under the part A of the floor A that it affords a fir-m brace to support the partition strongly. The seizing and releasing are instantaneous.

The parts may be readily separated when required. Throwing the lever M to the extreme right (the left in Figs. 2 and 3) so completely releases the hook B that the partition may be sprung forward and the cam pulled out of the hook. When this is done, the partition D D may be lifted bodily out of the box, bringing the rivet E and the cam and lever M M with it. Then the shoe may be removed from the box by a sliding movement along the groove a, and the whole is dismantled.

I attach importance to the fact that the shoe is long and gives an extended support to the partition in'the plane of the strain. It is, as shown, made from a strip of stout sheet iron or steel of a width a little less than the bottom of the groove a, partially split along two lines at the front end B to produce the arm B and the hook B by bending upward and hook-forming the intermediate metal, and is partially split for a less distance at the rear end B to produce the short arm B by similarly bending upward. The construction provides a long hearing at the bottom.

D and D are screw-pins projecting from the rear face of the partition D. They sup port the shoe laterally without obstructing the removal of the partition when required.

The two arms-the arm B B and the arm points in the opening (1 hold the base D, and

. thereby the partition D, efficiently against twisting into any skewed position. When unclamped it may be shifted easily forward and backward, and when clamped it is held stiffiy in place; but in either condition it is held firmly against twisting.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. I can make the parts of cast metal.

Other means than the pins D D may be employed to support the arm B laterally.

By giving less height and much stifiness tothe arm B and setting the rivet E correspondingly lower all guiding means may be dis- "pensed with. A corresponding simplification may be attained by giving more height to the arm B, extending it above the hook B so that it can be touched by the same hand or the other one when the lever M is turned. Figs. 6 and 7 show such modifications, Fig. 6showing the less height requiring no steadying and Fig. 7 showing the height so much extended that it can be conveniently held by the left hand while the lever M is turned by the right hand.

The groove 0. need not be in the center of the bottom. It may extend along in the same manner and serve with substantially the same effect located any distance out of the center, if any particular circumstances make it exevaese pedient to so locate it, care being taken to correspondingly arrange the operating parts.

Fig. 8 shows another form of the parts, which may serve in some cases. In this the cam is pivoted on the arm corresponding to B and in effecting the clamping action the cam acts to press down on a stop projecting from the partition and lifts on the shoe by means of the pivot. The effect is very nearly the same as in the other form. Turning the cam one way presses down on the base by acting on the short rearward arm Dfland turn ing it the other way relaxes the grip and allows it to be shifted to accommodate more or lines in Fig. 10, it lifts on a stout bent piece B which bridges over the cam and extendsdown through an aperture in D and in the base of the partition and is loosely riveted to a shoe BK, This latter, as in the other form, is of a breadth to properly fill the inverted-T- shaped slot in the bottom of the box and extends forward and backward therein to give an efficient support to the partition. The turning of the lever M to the right. as viewed from the front lifts forcibly on the piece B and consequently on the shoe Bjfi, and correspondingly depresses the shaft M# and the extensions D D and the base of the partition. The portions of the bottom of the box which form the overhanging parts or wings of the T-shaped slot are thus firmly gripped between the shoe B754, which is lifted, and'the base of the partition,which is depressed, and the partition is thus held fast. When it is desired to shiftthe partition forward or backward, the lever M 56 is turned upward and to the left as viewed from the front, thus relaxing the grip and allowing the partition to be shifted freely in the same manner and with the same efiect as with the other form.

The partition and base may be of other material than metal. Wood or papier-mach will serve Well.

I claim as my invention 1. I A box having a floor provided with'a longitudinal groove a of inverted-T section, in combination with an adjustable partition and with a shoe adapted to be'traversed in said groove and having an arm extending upward, near such partition and a cam and operating means therefor pivoted to one of the parts and arranged to act on the other to bind and release the partition in any desired part of the box, all substantially as herein specified.

2. The box A having the floor A A overhanging theigroove a, in combination with a shoe having the arm B and hook E the movable base D and partition D and the cam M and operating-lever M capable of being partially revolved under said hook, all arranged to serve substantially as herein specified.

3. The box A having the floor A A overhanging the groove a, in combination with the long shoe B B B having the arm B and hook 7 B? the movable base D and partition D, and the cam M and operating-lever M capable of 

